News Broadcasting
NDTV to hold 51% in JV with Hindu Group for Chennai channel
MUMBAI: Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Ltd is floating a joint venture company with The Hindu Group to launch a Chennai city-centric channel.
NDTV will hold 51 per cent in the JV while the Hindu Group will have the balance 49 per cent. The JV will launch MetroNation Chennai, marking Hindu’s foray into television news broadcasting.
“We are setting up a joint venture company with The Hindu Group where we will hold 51 per cent. Hindu is a reputed brand at the regional and national level. It was a natural gravitation towards each other,” NDTV Group CEO KVL Narayan Rao tells Indiantelevision.com.
The relationship will also extend to content-sharing with the most popular English newspaper in Tamil Nadu. “We aim to launch MetroNation Chennai in the next 3-4 months,” Rao says.
Mumbai will see the next launch, but it is likely to be in the next fiscal, Rao adds. NDTV launched MetroNation in Delhi last year to tap the local market.
NDTV will house the MetroNation channels under a subsidiary company.
NDTV is also planning to launch a World cinema channel in the next couple of months. “We have already obtained the licence for it,” says Rao.
The marriage between TV news broadcasters and print owners is gaining popularity. Star India has a joint venture partnership with ABP Group while IBN18 (formerly Global Broadcast News) holds a reletionship with Lokmat to run Marathi news channel IBN Lokmat.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
